


The Halo is Not Infallible

by Creativityx



Category: Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29939100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creativityx/pseuds/Creativityx
Summary: When the defeat Adriel, it seems like the chance to finally be free, to love each other and exist. So why does the Halo thrum differently? Flicker at odd points, make Ava feel like she's falling? The halo is failing and they need to find a way to repair it and keep Ava alive.
Relationships: Jillian Salvius/Mother Superion, Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	1. An appointment

It had been some time since the final battle with Adriel, since their freedom from his control. Flare the halo once, twice, thrice, it never failed, always offering that angelic light that fueled each hit Ava threw at those that tried to tear her and her friends, _no_ , family apart. 

They’d made their way back to the cat’s cradle, Father Vincent, now just Vincent shamed and hidden from their sight, ripped through the portal that returned Adriel to his hellish planes. A human in hell. It seemed like an impossible bid for him to ever return.

That much was clear from Mother Superion, now also revoking her title to just be Catalina, who pulled Jillian from the now decrepit structure that was once Arq Tech, her portal taking her son from her but also ridding the world of the demonic power of Adriel.

She’d heard it spoken, plans to reconstruct the portal, enter it, just the two of them, and bring Jillian’s son back into her arms, _their arms,_ the love they had started to form in working side by side growing each day. _Science and Religion,_ the solution, the curse. 

It was another discussion about Micheal that Ava finds herself walking into. She now required a checkup of the halo each week, its powers weakened since the fight. She’d find herself stumbling throughout the day, gripping at pillars, benches, people, anything to keep her upright, _the halo was failing._

‘Ava,’ Jillian speaks softly, waving her hand at Ava towards the couch taken from Catalina’s office that was now functioning as a makeshift patient bed. Catalina made a move to leave, removing her hand from Jillian’s own and standing up from the couch they’d been sharing.

Panic surges through her, ‘Wait!’ She cries out.

Catalina pauses in her spot, placing her hand against Jillian’s desk, a surprised look spreading across her face, ‘You want me to stay?’

She bites her lip at that, trying to find words that didn’t make her seem needy, but she knew she was desperate, wanting someone, anyone to tell her she’d be okay, ‘You’re-’ she mumbles, ‘You’re well the only one I know that like lost the halo and is still _okay.’_

Catalina clenches her hand against the desk. Ava knew how she had lost the halo, rejected and disregarded, _not worthy enough_ she had told Ava once. ‘I do not believe I have much to offer in a room of science,’ she gets out stiffly, ‘Jillian will suit addressing your matters best.’

Ava bows her head at that, wishing the woman would understand. She didn’t want to just be scienced, to be told that she may lose everything the halo offered her, _it brought her back._ ‘I want you,’ she pleads out.

Catalina sighs at that and pulls a chair out from the corner of the room to sit right beside Ava’s, ‘If you wish for me to stay so badly, it would be improper of me to refuse.’

Jillian lets out a soft sound to break them out of their conversation, ‘Is everyone ready for the checkup?’

Catalina looks over at Ava, and Ava feels it, her hand pressed gently against Ava’s own, moving her thumb in a calming pattern, _a memory of what it meant to have a mother,_ Ava closes her eyes and just relishes the feeling, ‘I’m ready.’

Jillian makes her way across the room, Ava listening to her footsteps, still refusing to open her eyes. ‘I know this has been frightening but each checkup is another step closer to stabilising the halo and keeping you well and alive.’ 

Ava can’t stop her voice from being shaky, ‘I know, I know, it’s just a lot, it doesn‘t really feel like we won the fight, you know?’ She feels a hand atop of her spare, Jillian's, the woman sitting on the couch with her.

‘I know it’s not easy, it’s hard,’ she sighs, ‘But we will not lose you, Ava, you’re strong and the halo chose you for a reason.’ Ava leans her head against Jillian’s shoulder, opening her eyes and looking around the room idly. It wasn’t much, a few of the things they could save from Jillian’s lab lining some rickety bookshelves, the desk having been taken from one of the storage rooms. Still, it felt warm and safe. 

‘You got a plan?’ Ava huffs, clenching and unclenching her fist, focusing on the feeling of being able to still move her body at her own volition. 

‘I always have a plan,’ Jillian retorts in disbelief, ‘When don’t I have a plan?’ She walks over back to her desk, sifting through one of the drawers, ‘Catalina, don’t I always have a plan?’

Catalina just blinks her eyes at being questioned, ‘I- of course, you always have a plan, amore, I do not doubt you.’ Ava can’t help but let out a small laugh at that, at Catalina bending to Jillian so easily. She enjoyed how in love with each other they were, it felt like watching her parents bicker. 

‘Ah-hah,’ Jillian cheers, pulling out some strange _thingy,_ that was like glowing all weird. If Ava thought she was the only one confused she’d be wrong. Catalina looked just as lost, a frown on her face as she tried to work out what Jillian’s newest gadget was.

‘And that is-‘ Ava finds herself asking while Catalina continued to stare at it in silent confusion. 

‘Risky,’ Jillian starts, running her hand down the edge of it, ‘Risky, but potentially life-saving.’ She moves back to her desk and pulls out a small box, whatever’s inside it rattling as she moved it.

It’s Catalina who puts the two things together, ‘Divinium.’ She stands up from her chair and grabs the box, lifting the lid and seeing some loose Divinium shards moving around inside. 

Ava pushes herself as far back in the chair as she possibly can. She’s not a fool, she knows what Divinium can do to halo bearers. It wasn’t hard to remember the conversation she had with Beatrice, the memory of it has her pushing impossibly further into the couch. The only reason she bears the halo now is because the last bearer couldn’t survive with that much divinium embedded in her body. _She didn’t want to be another fallen bearer._

Catalina holds the box close to her chest, ‘What are you thinking, Jillian?’ Disbelief tinges her voice as she steps back every time Jillian takes a step forward. ‘You cannot possibly think the solution is to fill this girl with the only thing that can actually destroy her?’

Jillian stops her steps, lowering her tool to her desk and placing her hands in the air in a silent truce, ‘I would never,’ her voice wobbles, ‘Never make the mistake again of trusting divinium to keep those I love safe and alive.’ She runs her hand on the tool, the gesture idle, ‘No, I’d like to study it, work out if there is a way to reverse engineer it or pull apart the sections that will not cause Ava harm.’

‘Why do you believe that would work?’ Catalina asks, stepping towards the woman again, the box still firmly clasped in her hands. 

‘Because divinium and the halo and derived from the same source,’ She comments, raising a hand when Catalina opens her mouth in rebuttal. ‘No, not the hellish plane Adriel was sent to, but somewhere else, perhaps an in-between, heaven even, if we’d like to get philosophical and religious about it, my love.’

The way Catalina’s features soften at the words makes Ava smile. She sighs and hands over the box to Jillian, ‘These are our girls your testing this on, one of our girls, we keep them safe, alive and free from harm.’

‘It is all I want for her,’ Jillian comments gently, looking over at Ava as she speaks. 

‘It’s all I want too,’ Ava lets out, her voice small, ‘To keep living, to not be killed just for being a little different.’

Jillian makes her way across the room once again, divinium in her hand, watching cautiously to make sure Ava didn’t react to being in proximity to it and sighing in relief when she didn’t. ‘It does not matter if, at the end of this, you return to that difference, you will be Ava, the girl that saved so many.’ 

‘What if I like the way I am now?’ Ava mumbles out, wrapping her arms around herself. She’s met with the response of a hand on each shoulder, Catalina and Jillian looking down at her as Jillian spoke, ‘I will do everything in my power to ensure that you can continue to exist just as you are.’

‘I think that’s it for today’s session,’ Jillian offers afterwards, rubbing a hand along one of Ava’s arms, Catalina offering an awkward pat to her back. ‘I know she'll be waiting for you to join her, go on.’

Catalina stops her when attempts to rise from the chair, ‘Hold on a moment.’ She moves across the room to that bookcase, opening one of the drawers at the bottom and pulling out a cane. ‘For you to remain stable, it was the first I received upon the halo’s rejection, replaced as I grew in height.’

Ava holds it in her hands thumbing over the engraving at the hilt, roses etched into the surface, cascading down the frame in a series of thorns, petals and leaves. _It was a beautiful sight._

‘Where’d all the engravings come from?’ Ava questions.

‘An old friend who knew of my fondness for the flower, I have no need for it now, use the cane as you see fit.’

Ava nods and hops out of the chair placing the cane against the floor with a tap testing its stability. Each step she took that much easier. Just before she leaves she peaks backwards and sees Catalina holding Jillian in her arms, a whisper of a sentence escaping the woman, ‘ _It must work.’_

She returns to her room and is met by Beatrice sitting on her bed. Her arms extending out the offer of a hug to Ava. ‘How’d it go?’ She questions, eyeing the cane briefly as Ava makes her way across the room and into her arms, tucking her head into Beatrice’s neck and dropping the cane to the bed. ‘That bad?’ Beatrice asks, pulling Ava into her lap and running her hands along her back, always just skimming over the halo.

‘It went good, maybe?’ Ava responds, moving her head from Beatrice’s neck to look at her face. ‘Jillian has this plan that involves this weird looking tool and some divinium-’ 

Beatrice cuts off her sentence there. ‘Divinium? She can’t be considering using that on you, not after what it did to Shannon.’

Ava bites her lip, ‘I don’t know, she seems to think there’s a way to get some of the good stuff out of it and use it with the halo?’ She sighs and puts her head back into Beatrice’s neck, placing a kiss on her clothed shoulder as she sinks further into Beatrice’s hold.

‘I can’t imagine there being anything good coming from that,’ Beatrice grits out, her grip tightening for a second, ‘I don’t want to lose you after just finding you.’

‘I’m glad you found me,’ Ava returns, finally wrapping her arms around Beatrice’s waist in the same way she was doing it to Ava. ‘But, this might be the only way I get to keep living, I want to take that chance.’

‘Okay,’ Beatrice sighs, ‘Okay, I’ll trust her to return the one I love back to me.’

Beatrice hums for a moment before looking over at the cane, ‘Where did that come from?’

Ava looks over at it briefly, ‘A gift from Catalina, but that’s beside the point, it’s been hours since I’ve last seen you, can’t we just spend time with each other without all of this?’

Beatrice smiles, pushing some loose hair out of Ava’s eyes, ‘Of course.’ 

Ava smiles at that pushing against Beatrice until her back was pressed against the bed. ‘Now where did we leave off?’ She moves forward and places a kiss on Beatrice’s lips, cherishing the feeling of being able to do so. Beatrice as always, matching her vigour, leading her through it and holding her close.

By the end of it, they pull apart, lips and faces flushed and lay on the bed together. Tomorrow would be another day. Another day for them to get closer to fixing the flaws of the halo.


	2. Training to Heal, Why Isn't it Healing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the same routine as always since the halo started to fail. Wake up and do something about it. Training becoming their main activity. Phase without issue, use the halo without issue, she wishes it was as easy to do as it was to say out loud.

Morning comes, a Tuesday, the day they normally train together. Since their return as a team, they’d progressed from indoor training to outdoors amongst the trees or in an open field. It came from the consequences of each time the halo didn’t work the way it should. Ava still cringed as she walked through the main halls of the cat’s cradle to their training grounds. She’d remember how the halo would falter, phasing her when she didn’t want to. The final straw was her phasing through the floor and into the morgue, the exact room she was brought back to life by the halo.

She remembered the tears, the shouting and the fear of being back in that room. The only thing that kept her from tumbling over the edge as the halo continued to flare erratically,  _ burning  _ her back with its instability, was Beatrice. The moment she went through that floor, she knew Beatrice would follow her, only minutes passing before she was pulled from the floor and into Beatrice’s arms. It was Mary who carried her out of there to her room, Lilith who grabbed her an extra blanket and Camila who made the promise to only train outside from that point onwards. 

When Ava finally makes her way to their training grounds, her cane slightly muddied from digging into the dirt with each step, she’s greeted by a grappling Mary and Lilith with Camila cheering loudly on the sidelines. Beatrice had separated from her on their walk to grab some equipment for training, knowing that the rest of them would inevitably forget as always.

‘What’s going on here?’ Ava questioned, using her foot to idly kick the mud off of the cane and reveal the etchings once more, the sight in front of her making her laugh. Both of them have their hair in disarray, their clothes covered in dirt as they continued to roll on the ground.

It’s Camila who answers for them, ‘You and Beatrice were taking a while, I mean I don’t blame you, cute lovers and all, but it leads to these two making bets,’ She laughs as they roll again, drawing a line in her notebook next to many others. ‘The bet this time is who can pin the other first.’

Ava hums at that watching Mary’s hair start to loosen in her braids, ‘Who’s winning?’ She asks, looking over at the lines on the page.

Camila tilts her head, following Ava’s gaze, ‘Oh! These lines aren’t who’s winning, it’s how many minutes have passed since they’ve started.’ She comments, adding another line.

‘And there’s-’ Ava starts.

‘42 lines, yes,’ Camila confirms. Ava laughs and continues watching their sparring match, though those touches were hardly one’s you’d be doing to a recruit. 

Mary huffs, pushing her braids out of her face, ‘Give up baby girl, you know I’m going to pin you.’ She makes a move to wrap one of her legs around Lilith’s own and flip her again to no success.

Lilith laughs, ‘Perhaps you should quit and save your pride, we’ve been doing this for 42-’ she pauses, ‘42 yes?’ She asks, tilting her head to look over at Camila, who nods in turn. ‘42 minutes and you’ve done nothing more than mess my hair up and get a little dirt on me.’

‘I don’t quit,’ Mary returns, starting their grappling match again and rolling that bit further away from Camila and Ava. It’s then when Ava feels a hand on the shoulder, a confused ahem sound coming from behind her.

‘Bea!’ She shouts in her excitement, turning and helping grab some of the equipment out of her hands. In the same moment, an ‘Ah-ha!’ escapes Mary’s lips. Ava turns to see Lilith pouting and pinned to the ground, grumbling about her loss as she reluctantly accepts Mary’s hand to pull her back to her feet.

‘Aw, how’d the fight end?’ She asks, looking between the two of them and seeing how smug the smile on Mary’s face was.

‘Oh, you know I was always going to win the fight, it was only a matter of time before she bent, you’re little love moment helped, poor Lily, always a sucker for a good romance.’ Lilith smacks Mary in her arm at the words, a slight blush tinting her cheeks.

‘I would have won if not for that inopportune distraction,’ she huffs, pushing at Mary’s chest to move her away from the rest of them before she made another one of her playful jokes.

Their bickering is cut off by Beatrice thrusting a training staff in each of their hands sounding exasperated, ‘We came here to train our halo bearer, not to roll in the dirt with each other.’

‘I’m pretty versatile,’ Mary starts, a grin making its way onto her face as she wraps a hand around Lilith’s waist, the other firmly grasping the staff.

Lilith jabs at Mary’s side with her own staff, getting her to release her. ‘I’m going to train the halo bearer,’ she quips. Mary laughs and lets her walk over to Beatrice and the rest of the training tools she’d brought with her. When Ava shoots her a questioning look, Mary winks and starts going through her practice positions with the staff. 

‘They definitely like each other,’ Camila comments, writing the final time count of their rolling session in her notebook. ‘I don’t think I’d roll in the dirt with someone I don’t like for,’ she gestures, pointing to her notebook with her pen, ‘A whole 50 minutes.’ She starts to scribble on the page as she watches Mary go through her steps.

Beatrice steps away from Lilith for a moment, handing Ava her training staff, looking down at the cane in her hand, ‘Can you stand without it?’ Ava answers that question by slowly lowering it to the ground and standing upright, training staff in her hand.

‘Yeah, I’ve got this, it’s just been easier to walk with it,’ she offers. Beatrice nods, reaching for the hand that was holding the cane and placing a kiss on the back of it, ‘I trust you to know your limits.’ With that comment, she returns to Lilith.

Ava waves her staff around once it’s just her and Camila once more, idly watching Beatrice and Lilith sift through the equipment, a quiet conversation flowing between the two as they did. She finds herself filling her silence by continuing the conversation with Camila, ‘It seemed like neither could pin the other, equal match or whatever.’

Camila laughs loudly, looking away from her notebook and waving her hand when the rest of the girls looked her way. ‘Oh no, Lilith is the much better hand-to-hand fighter of the two, she could have finished that within 5 minutes.’

Ava tilts her head at that, humming as Lilith made her way back over to Mary and offered her some wraps to put on her hands. She didn’t get them at all. But, at least they found someone in each other and weren’t chasing her down for the halo anymore. 

‘Alright,’ Beatrice starts, moving over to Ava to place a hand on one of her shoulders, ‘Day 87 of the halo experiencing some,’ she grips at Ava’s shoulder tightly before sighing, ‘issues.’

Ava places her hand atop Beatrice’s own, offering her a smile as she looks over at her. The tightness of her grip reminded her of the way Beatrice would hold her tightly in her arms each time that training didn’t go the way she hoped. Beatrice, with her head tucked into Ava’s neck her words pained, ‘I don’t want to lose you, I won’t lose you.’  _ She wanted to help but knew the only answer was somehow fixing the halo. _

‘You all remember the way it works, Camila on higher ground, Lilith and Mary straight ahead while I scout the edges,’ she comments, reaching for her weapons. ‘The intention to get Ava to phase and find a way to stabilise the halo in moments of defence.’ 

They all nod and Beatrice calls for the training to start.  _ Phase properly,  _ that was the only objective. Why was it always so hard? Mary comes at her first, swinging her staff, Ava blocking it with her own and stepping back as Lilith makes her move. She ducks out of the way of the hit, afraid of phasing and failing again. 

‘You need to phase through ‘em, little halo, not just tap us out of the way,’ Mary huffs, moving forward again and hitting at Ava’s staff hard, using her momentum to knock it out of Ava’s hand and sending it flying a couple of metres away. 

Ava makes a move towards the staff to pick it up but just before her hands touch it, an arrow from Camila’s crossbow hits the ground in front of it as she shouts out, ‘Uh-uh, use your halo powers to get out of this Ava!’

‘I’d prefer not to!’ She shouts in return.

She feels arms wrap around her waist as she finally gets out of Camila’s line of sight and tries to throw the person off. The soft voice in her ear gives away who they are, Beatrice. ‘I will not let you go, you’ll have to phase if you want to get out of this.’ Ava feels her breath grow slightly ragged as she continues to twist in Beatrice’s arms, hoping to throw her off in any other way. 

‘You can do it, my darling, just phase out of my arms,’ she continues, pressing her lips against Ava’s cheek. She knows that’s what this training is about. To phase. To use the halo. To deplete the halo and her life a little bit more in order to  _ somehow  _ fix it. She tries. With a deep breath, she focuses on the energy of the metal embedded into her back.  _ One.. two…  _ She’s out of Beatrice’s arms, only a few feet away from her.

‘That was well controlled,’ Beatrice comments supportively, ‘You stayed close, I’m proud.’ She rubs at Ava’s back, where the halo is and Ava knows that she can feel how warm it has become from the phase. 

Lilith walks over, looking over at Ava, ‘An acceptable attempt, shall we try again?’ Ava had grown to like this change from Lilith, no longer demanding that she do something,  _ an offer instead. _

She takes another breath, feeling for how well she could stand, hoping she wouldn’t fall over. She does it, she’s okay, and the heat in her back fades away once more. ‘I can try again.’

Beatrice nods, walking over and giving her a quick kiss to her forehead, ‘Are you sure? We can always stop,’ she offers, placing a hand to Ava’s back once more. The only heat Ava could feel was Beatrice’s hand.  _ She wanted it to stay that way, for the halo to work. _

Beatrice steps back, a small smile on her face at the feeling. ‘Alright then, for the first time, let’s try entering Phase 2 of our training, make it more of a challenge.’ 

Ava moves away, getting some distance from them all and digging the heels of her boots into the dirt as she readied herself, ‘Bring it.’

Her request is met immediately by an onslaught of Camila’s arrows, she dodges some and phases through the rest, the halo stable, not burning her back the way it had been, her phases sending her only paces from where she previously stood.  _ Okay… maybe she’s got this. _

She starts to move faster, going in between some trees to keep herself out of view, it seemed to be working. Next thing she knows, she’s getting smacked in the arm by Lilith’s staff, sending her tumbling to the ground. ‘Hey! Didn’t have to get me that hard,’ Ava complains.

‘We are at phase 2,’ Lilith returns, offering her hand to pull Ava up. She reaches out and lets herself get pulled. A smirk making its way onto Lilith’s face, ‘I’ll give you a minute head start.’

Ava pouts at that but runs again, making her way out into the open, trying to get as far away from the rest of them as she can.  _ She didn’t come here to get her ass kicked.  _

She’s got this. Just phase. Don’t freak out. Have the halo stop hurting her. Why was none of that easy? She makes her way across the ground and pauses. Placing her hands on her knees and taking a steadying breath, she looks around trying to see if any of them were around her and sees no one.  _ Oh, wait.  _ A figure, drawing in fast… Mary.  _ Shit.  _ If she thought Lilith kicked her ass, she knew Mary would show just how she didn’t. What better way to test her phasing then to phase just at the moment that Mary collided with her? She’s got this.

Mary draws in, no staff in her hands, going instead for hand-to-hand combat. She throws a fist and Ava watches as it phases through her, ‘Ha! see that? Phasing,’ she cheers, phasing again as the next fist is thrown.

‘Good, little halo, good, now keep going,’ Mary responds, changing her tactic, grappling Ava and flipping her to knock her into the ground. In a moment of panic, the halo responds, phasing Ava out of her grip and sending her flying, Ava squeezing her eyes shut in her fear, the ‘Ava!’ Mary lets out sounding more and more distant.

When she finally stops moving, she opens her eyes to a searing pain in her back and her right leg, up to her knee, trapped in the trunk of a tree. She yanks at her leg to no success,  _ again, again, again,  _ why wasn’t it budging? It was just like the first time, but it's been years, she knows how to get out of this. ‘Why won’t you budge?’ she huffs, frustrated.

She doesn’t know how long she’s by herself pulling at her leg but she’s met with Camila placing her hands on her legs dropping Ava’s cane off to the side, Lilith moving her hands away and Beatrice behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist, chest pressed against her back, ‘You need to stop,’ Beatrice whispers out into her ear.

‘No, I need to get free from this stupid tree,’ Ava returns, trying to move her hands out of Lilith’s grip, barely noticing that she’s being held. She refuses to be trapped, refuses to let the halo take control over her and keep failing,  _ why was it failing?  _

‘No, my love, you need to stop,’ Beatrice continues running her hands along Ava’s side, ‘Look around you.’ So Ava does, and she notices just what has happened. A crater around her, light surrounding them all each time Beatrice moved her body away from Ava.

‘Did I-’ she pauses, seeing the way some of the trees had snapped branches lining the ground, ‘Did I do this?’

It’s Mary who responds, ‘The halo is more unstable than we thought.’ She gently taps at Ava’s leg that Camila was still assessing as she draws lines on the tree trunk around Ava’s leg. ‘But more than anything, we shouldn’t have pushed you this far.’ She moves to the other side of Ava, to the leg that wasn’t trapped in the tree. ‘We’ll cut you out of here, little light, no need to panic.’

‘No- No I don’t want to be trapped, just let me use the halo and get out,’ she returns, wiggling her leg as she tries to get it out of the tree. 

‘You’re burning too bright, my dear Icarus, don’t hurt yourself from this,’ Beatrice sighs, kissing at the back of her neck as she continues to hold her. 

She feels the tears start to fall at Beatrice’s words, ‘It's better than having no light at all,  _ please,’  _ she sobs out turning her head so that she can bury it into Beatrice’s neck. Beatrice runs her hands through her hair, kissing her head gently after a few passes of her hands, the  _ sorry’s  _ flowing from her. She listens to the sounds of Camila knocking at the tree and Lilith contemplating whether her claws could cut through it.

‘Baby girl, there’s no way your claws are going to cut through an entire tree trunk,’ Mary sighs, pushing Lilith’s clawed hand away from the tree, ‘Besides, what if you cut something you’re not supposed to?’

Lilith huffs, tapping her hand against the tree, ‘I’d be careful, I care about her too.’

‘I think instead we should-’ Camila starts, Ava letting the conversation drift out of her mind, focusing entirely on the feeling of being in her Bea’s arms. She doesn’t know how long passes before she feels herself sink into the floor, a surprised sound escaping the girls around her. She looks over and sees that her leg was no longer trapped in the tree.

‘How did that happen?’ She asks tiredly. 

‘You phased right back out,’ Beatrice speaks, kissing her face, ‘You did it.’ Ava turns and falls into Beatrice’s arms, accepting the kiss on her lips when Beatrice offers, letting herself be led slowly through the paces of their embrace, the same as always but filled with contentment at her freedom. 

‘Let’s get you out of here,’ Camila suggests, offering her the cane. 

Ava reaches for it and stands with only a slight wobble. She knows they’re watching her, waiting to see if she’d fall. She doesn’t know why she feels so stubborn to take those few steps, but regrets each one, tripping on her fourth, only to be stopped from landing by Beatrice’s hand around her waist. 

‘It’s okay to ask for help.’ Beatrice whispers, pulling her back into a standing position.

‘I’ve had to ask for help my whole life, I really just wanted this once, with the halo, when I didn’t have to,’ Ava mumbles out, leaning against Beatrice for support, knowing she couldn’t stand alone.

‘I know,’ Beatrice returns, pressing her forehead to Ava’s,  _ ‘I know.’ _

Lilith walks over once they’re separated and lifts Ava into her arms, Beatrice holding her cane and remaining close by their side as they walk back to the cat’s cradle.  _ The halo was getting better.  _ She knew that was a lie.  _ The halo was falling apart and none of them knew how to stop it.  _ The painful truth. She closes her eyes and settles against Lilith, embracing the notion of being able to feel what it's like to be held. 

When the doors of the cat’s cradle creak open, having gotten rickety from their years away while they fought against Adriel, Ava opens her eyes again. ‘You can set me down, I can walk the rest,’ she lets out.

‘But-’ Lilith starts, unwilling to place Ava back on solid ground. She’s stopped by Beatrice’s arm on her bicep, a subtle shake to her head that Ava’s got used to noticing from her. ‘She can do it,’ Beatrice returns. Lilith places her feet down on the ground and Beatrice hands her the cane as she starts to wobble again.

She walks back to her room, Beatrice having left her side to grab food from them both. She grits her teeth at each step but still refuses to let the halo take control  _ of _ her, take control  _ from  _ her. She takes a brief glance at Jillian’s office, peaking through the crack of the door and seeing Catalina tucked around her.

When she makes it to her room, she drops with a dull thump onto the bed, the cane deposited at her side.  _ Roses and their thorns… etched with such a delicate hand.  _ The halo and its thorns, tearing at her body piece by piece, each time it glowed, like the rose, beautiful. But to touch the halo? To use its power? Is to recognise that like the rose, it's edged with the thorns of a power she wasn’t meant to hold. 

‘What am I going to do with you?’ She sighs, talking out loud to the halo, removing her shirt and pushing herself over to the mirror, looking at it glowing in the reflection, ‘You’re hurting me you know? That’s kind of real shitty of you to do.’ The halo offers no response.  _ Of course, it doesn’t, Ava.  _

That’s what Beatrice walks into the room to. Her shirt removed, the halo burning in her back. Ava hears the rustle of the food tray being placed on their desk before she feels Beatrice’s hands on her stomach from behind. ‘It’s bothering you so badly?’

Ava bites her lip, ‘What did I do so wrong that I deserve this?’ she offers, gesturing to the mirror and the image of the halo’s light escaping from the edges of Beatrice’s frame, their bodies pressed together. 

‘Nothing, my love, you are an exceptional bearer, it is Adriel’s interference with the halo that created this, the halo is perfectly capable of defining those of worth,’ she offers, placing a kiss on Ava’s back where the halo resided.

‘Do you think that’s it? The halo doesn’t think I’m worthy anymore?’ Ava worries, moving around in Beatrice’s arms as she contemplates the possibility.

A firm ‘No,’ is returned. ‘You are one of the most worthy bearers I know and I’ve read the stories of all those before you, so much to lose, but willing to help,  _ you are worthy.’  _ Beatrice fills each word with a kiss against Ava’s back, rising up to untie her hair and kiss at her neck, her cheeks, anywhere she could reach. ‘Now how about we put that shirt back on and eat?’

‘Oh?’ Ava responds, her voice playful, ‘You’re not enjoying me like this?’

Beatrice laughs at that, a smile on her face, ‘The time and place is to eat, Ava, no avoiding that.’ Ava pouts at her but knows she is right, the halo flaring like that had her exhausted,  _ just never enough to reject Beatrice’s touch.  _ She pulls on her shirt and grabs the tray from the desk.

After a while, she speaks up, ‘What’s our plan now, after all of this?’

Beatrice sighs, rubbing Ava’s arm, ‘We tell Jillian about this and plan to get whatever she’s making completed sooner,  _ I can’t lose you.’  _

‘Okay,’ Ava responds, tucking her head into Beatrice, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’ Beatrice pulls Ava from her spot and into the bed, tucking her close to her chest, Ava growing fond over the years of feeling all of Beatrice when they slept. 

‘Goodnight, my love,’ Beatrice whispers, pressing her lips against Ava’s own and letting Ava lead the kiss.

‘Goodnight, Bea,’ Ava mumbles, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Where am I going with this? No idea, but it sure is fun.


End file.
